The term “actuation” denotes the action of a user placing his hand on the handle and pulling it so as to open the door and enter the vehicle.
The detection of the actuation of the door handle, or “handle pulled” detection, is used, for certain types of vehicle, in order to adapt the passenger compartment (by adjusting the seat position or steering wheel position, or personalizing the radio or the dashboard color, for example) on the basis of the “hands-free” access badge (and thus on the basis of the user) previously identified by the vehicle. In some applications it can also be used to activate certain functions such as the “low power” mode of the “hands-free” access system. This is because, if a number of approaches of the user's hand are detected by a presence detection device integrated into the handle, but the handle is not actuated (that is to say, pulled) following these detections, then these detections are “false” detections, due to the impact of rain on the handle for example, and the “hands-free” access system is then put into the “low power” mode which disables the search for the “hands-free” access badge, to avoid unnecessarily discharging the vehicle battery.
As shown in FIG. 1, at the present time a handle 10 of a vehicle door 20 comprises:                an approach and/or contact detection sensor 30 in the form of a capacitive sensor, connected to a locking electrode 60 for locking the vehicle, that is to say a flat conductive metal piece which is oriented toward the outside of the vehicle, and which, in FIG. 1, is located perpendicularly to an axis Z, which is the axis of rotation of the handle 10,        an unlocking presence detection device 50, for the purpose of unlocking the vehicle, in the form of an unlocking electrode, oriented toward the door 20 of the vehicle, or in the form of an optical emitter, a piezoelectric cell, an inductive sensor or a mechanical microswitch, these various devices being suitable for the detection of the approach of a hand to the unlocking area of the handle, or the contact of a hand therewith,        a Hall effect sensor 9,        a microcontroller 40, in the form of a printed circuit, connected to the approach detection sensor 30, to the unlocking presence detection device 50, and to the Hall effect sensor 9.        
These elements are generally contained in a sealed casing B.
The detection of the actuation of the handle 10 of the door 20 is generally performed by a dedicated system, comprising a magnet 8 and the Hall effect sensor 9. The magnet 8 is located on the fixed part of the handle 10, called the counter-grip 11, and the Hall effect sensor 9 is located facing the magnet 8 in the moving part, in the handle 10 itself. The Hall effect sensor 9 measures the strength of the magnetic field induced by the presence of the magnet 8. The magnetic field strength is high when the handle 10 is in the rest position (see FIG. 1) and the Hall effect sensor 9 is facing the magnet 8. The magnetic field strength is low when the handle 10 is actuated (see FIG. 2), that is to say when the user pulls the handle 10, and the Hall effect sensor 9 is remote from the magnet 8. The variation of the magnetic field strength therefore enables the actuation of the handle 10 to be detected.
However, there are many drawbacks of this dedicated system for detecting the actuation of the handle 10, as follows:                its high cost;        constraints associated with the overall dimensions and positioning of the magnet 8 and the Hall effect sensor 9; and        its power consumption.        